The MLS is back and so are our video breakdowns! Here's Jeong Sang-Bin's goal to open the scoring against kansas last night.
Marcel Hartel's initial chip into the box is headed too hard by Wallem for Becher to handle and Jansen Miller collects the ball, seemingly steering it away from danger.
However, Daniel Edelman closes down on Miller with an unbelievable read and incredible effort to get there just in time to make a deflection on the attempted clearance, with the ball instead bouncing to Tomas Totland.
Totand has a couple options when he looks up, including a pretty open Edu Löwen (calling for the ball directly in front of him), but he choses the back post cross. Wallem gets to the ball at the same time as kansas GK Cleveland, and the resulting deflection falls to Sang-Bin who torques his body around the ball to slip it home.
The lack of body contact between Cleveland and Wallem is really the reason this wasn't a foul and enabled CITY to grab a 1-0 lead. This entire sequence was the result of Edelman's read and hustle - it won't show up as a goal contribution but certainly deserves recognition.
CITY's second goal of the match was the result of excellent defensive positioning, a great run, and a couple of well-placed passes. Let's break it down.
SKC's Ian James receives a back-pass after his throw in, and CITY has him bracketed with Hartel, Edelman, and Totland. James doesn't have many options of where to go with the ball, and his hesitation allows Totland time to close down with the tackle, deflecting the ball to Löwen.
As soon as Löwen looks up, Simon Becher starts his run upfield, signaling Edu with his hand for the ball. Löwen makes the pass - not quite in stride, as Becher has to slow down for it and cut across the field slightly, but that movement drags Jansen Miller away from the space that Marcel Hartel is beginning his run into.
Hartel, who had also headed upfield when Edu got the ball, benefits from SKC's Lasse Berg Johnsen (#4) ball watching, giving Cello a free run up the left side into acres of space. Becher makes a very nice pass past Miller, which arrives just as Hartel does, and Marcel goes 5-hole on Cleveland for a 2-0 CITY lead.
It wasn't all sunshine and roses last night, as Capita's goal just before halftime got kansas back in it. After an initial turnover, CITY is in a pretty decent defensive shape, but Totland is slow and/or hesitant to close down on the Angolan forward, leaving far too much space.
Capita rips a very nice shot to the upper left corner that Ben Lundt just gets his fingertips to, but it's not enough to prevent the shot from finding the back of the net.
Not much to say here, you do wonder if Totland was worried a bit too much about Capita beating him off the dribble- but ultimately, you have to acknowledge that it was just a hell of a strike from Capita.
Finally, I could save a lot of virtual ink and just say "OOF" on this one, but here goes.
As is apparently in his contract with kansas, Dejan Joveljic gets his obligatory goal against CITY last night to tie it up via an absolute disaster of a pass from Ben Lundt.
Lundt has a couple options here, none more simple than laying the ball off to a retreating Lucas MacNaughton, who is moving into space out to Lundt's right and has no defenders near him.
Instead, Lundt attempt a pass up the middle to Miguel Perez which is cut off by SKC's Manu García (nice read and even nicer flicked pass by him, credit where it's due) and from there it's an inevitable goal.
Just a bad mistake that fortunately didn't prevent CITY from grabbing all 3 points at home. Not much more to say here - except let's not do that again, Ben.
